This invention relates in general to transceivers and in particular to portable transceivers which can be held and operated by the same hand.
Portable radios which can both receive and transmit are well known in the art. Such devices have been used for some period of time as military walkie-talkies, and have become important devices to the construction industry and for security purposes as well as finding use as an amusement device for children. As the electronics industry advanced, circuitry improvements enabled the size and weight of such electronic devices to be reduced while their reliability and ease of operation improved. Most of these present day devices, typically referred to as transceivers, include a printed circuit board with a case-like housing and the necessary wiring and controls to make the device operable. The operator controls are externally actuatable and typically include such features as a push-to-talk button, on-off volume control, squelch knob and possibly a channel select switch.
The following list of patents offers some indication of the types of circuitry arrangements which have been used as well as some concepts associated with printed circuit board design.
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Patentee Issue Date ______________________________________ 3,701,016 Bennett et al. 10/24/72 3,345,568 Errichiello et al. 10/03/67 3,128,431 Walker 4/07/64 3,305,779 Errichiello 2/21/67 3,969,815 Hacke et al. 7/20/76 3,977,074 Furnival 8/31/76 ______________________________________
Bennett et al. discloses a portable transceiver wherein the printed circuit board is mounted to a rectangular frame which opens at the front and back sides. There are separate front and rear covers which attach to the frame to enclose the internal circuitry. The operator controls extend out from the upper edge of the frame and must be hard wired to the printed circuit board once the board is installed.
Errichiello et al. discloses a portable transceiver wherein two printed circuit boards are used and hard wired connections must be made to the operator controls after assembly of the boards to the transceiver housing. These operator controls extend out from the upper end of the housing portion and would not be operable by the same hand which holds the unit, while the unit is in use, due to the fact that the push-to-talk switch is located on the left side of the housing and the unit is held so that this switch may be thumb operated.
Walker discloses a portable transmitter wherein the particular circuitry is arranged to regulate the signal input to a power amplifier transistor according to variations in ambient temperature. The single-sided printed circuit board must be electrically coupled to the dual battery packs as well as the push-to-talk switch after installation of the printed circuit board into the housing. The unit disclosed does not receive signals and is not therefore a transceiver.
Errichiello discloses a portable transmitter which includes housing provisions for interchangeably receiving batteries and antenna subassemblies of different types. The unit disclosed is not a transceiver and consequently its relevancy as prior art to the present invention is questionable.
Hacke et al. discloses a process for forming a through connection between a pair of circuit patterns disposed on opposite surfaces of a substrate. This patent is listed only for its disclosure of a double-sided circuit connection technique. The patent does not disclose or suggest applicability to transceiver designs.
Furnival discloses a method of fabricating a double-sided printed circuit board wherein an interfacial connection is made from one etched side to the opposite side and then completed by dip soldering or by welding. This patent is also of questionable relevancy to the design of portable transceivers but is nevertheless listed in that, transceivers typically use printed circuit boards.
It is noted that none of the transceiver designs disclosed above include a completely self-contained and finished circuit which needs only to be installed in a housing for protection, but which requires no wiring after installation in order to make the transceiver operable.
There are several commercial transceivers which have been available over the past few years and which reveal a variety of package styles. Typical of such packaging variations are the following units identified in the following publications:
Wilson T-1502 MX PA1 Wilson Electronics Corp. PA1 P.O. Box 19000 PA1 Las Vegas, NV 89119 PA1 R. F. Communications RF-2800 PA1 1680 University Avenue PA1 Rochester, NY 14610 PA1 Johnson FM545 PA1 E. F. Johnson Co. PA1 Waseca, MN 56093 PA1 Sonab SC905TR PA1 A B Sonab PA1 Fack, S-162 10 PA1 Vallingby, Sweden PA1 Sony CB901 PA1 Sony Corporation of America PA1 580 Fifth Avenue PA1 New York 36, NY
It is to be noted that although these units may offer a variety of styles, the push-to-talk button is usually on the left side (oriented with the user facing the speaker grill) with the on-off volume knob and other controls on the top end of the unit. Although such units may be hand held, all the external controls are not operable by one hand while that same hand is holding the transceiver for push-to-talk operation. Furthermore, with the push-to-talk button on the left side of the unit, the unit is designed to be held only by the left hand due to thumb control of the button and thus the units are not as versatile as they could be if the controls were all centrally located. With centrally located controls, these controls could be operated by the thumb of the hand holding the transceiver as well as be equally well suited for operation by either hand.